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The Murmuring Canon
A book that chronicles the process of achieving divinity for a mortal, its thesis is that the gods should not be the ones who decide who gets to achieve divine ascension and access restorative magic, this book tells the story of how one archmage forged an empire that united peoples from all backgrounds and ancestries. A powerful empire where magic was prevalent and became within grasp of more people than previously thought possible. Far reaching was the span of the Empire and prosperous were the people of the archmage. For all the power of this ruler, death was inescapable until the mage learned power from a figure called Teneborus, the Shadow that Was, and crafted a phylactery by which life could be extended. The body would wither and decay but the mind and will would live on as the archmage shed their previous identity and took on the mantle of the greatest of all wizards, only using their previous persona as a pen name by which they released tomes. It was a subtle reminder of where the mage came from so their subjects could see they too could achieve this power despite being mere mortals. The empire grew and all opposition that stood in the way surrendered or was crushed. The dominion of the Empire would be absolute and dissent from the benevolence and wisdom of the archmage was not tolerated. So formidable and terrible was the fury of the archmage that subjects would fear to speak their lord’s name when they became enveloped in their own mind, chasing after a new idea, spell, or strategy lest the lord become distracted, lose focus, and unleash their wroth. Eventually the archmage retreated into their tower, researching the means by which access to divine restoration magic could be subverted via arcane means. Decades went by as the mage dwelled in the tower, its spirals and walls crumbling and rotting as subjects gave the tower a wide berth and those who strayed too close would not be heard from again. The rulers, generals, and warlords of the Empire’s various fiefdoms began to plot against one another, traitors to the archmage they allowed the borders to grow weak, and the Empire and its prosperity began to wane. The archmage had to stop incomplete research to fight a war against these traitors. The warlords and generals were punished for their arrogance and banished to the plane of shadow for where they would reside in ceaseless torment. It was when victory was almost assured that the lord was betrayed by their closest and most ardent follower, the tower was reduced to ashes and the archmage was destroyed along with the traitor. Or so it was thought, the archmage’s essence survived, as a vestige of its former self it shall watch and wait until the time is right. It dwells in a dark plane of death and despair, it projects its many books and its power to the world of Toril, waiting until it is rediscovered and freed once more. Its tendrils reach far beyond its pale-yellow tomb and it if you listen for it in the dark you too may be overtaken by the mists. When the sanctified hear whispers in the dead of night, when the hopeless are given hope, when the powerless are given power, they shall know that the mage has chosen them to continue to the most holy work, to prepare for the return of the archmage. Deception is the cloak of the sanctified and obfuscation is their sword. The archmage is able to grant their followers access to divine magic from beyond the veil, but barring the world discover the archmage be the lord Bane the source of the magic must be hidden. The spirit of the traitor is also restless, having reforged its body it dwells in the miasma of the swamps of the snake and lizardmen, giving itself a driftwood crown and claiming the mantle of a king. The faithful are charged to gather objects of power, use the magic the lord gives them, prepare the ritual for the lord's return and strike fear into the hearts of their enemies, namely, the rotwood traitor, the queen of spiders, the matron of ravens, and the king of undeath. For the ritual to work you must begin with the souls of ancient beings of supreme power. One that dwells in the blackness of the Abyss, one that stokes the fires of hell, and one that drifts beyond the stars, unknowable and terrible must be their might. When the time is right the lord has prophesied five children that shall be born onto the world, unknowing of their true destiny they will discover their purpose, made from the lord’s flesh shall be their bodies, and made from the lord’s will shall be their power. They are harbingers of the lord, iron is their will and their might shall deliver final victory and Bane shall return. (The next five pages are prophetic pictures of the children, there is The Arbiter, The Blood, The Reaper, The Vengeance, and The Wroth) (The rest of the pages detailing the ritual are blackened and unreadable) The book ends with “Cycles within cycles, turning evermore. Do not think that the Man-Made-God is gone, and shall return again. That is an ignorant understanding of the Cycle of Inevitability. Instead understand that the Holy Susurrus ebbs and recedes like the tide. When the Tide has withdrawn, the initiated are invested with a sacred charge: to prepare the world for the turning of that Tide, for the return of the lord. When that sacred and holy day is upon us once more, the Ineffable Whispers will be heard not just by the sanctified, but by all thinking creatures, and woe, woe betide those who do not fall down in worship. Divinity shall be within reach of the willing, by the grace of the lord shall every person be granted the power of gods.”